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Bipolar Disease

Creativity & Bipolar Disorder
If you suffer from bipolar disorder, not only are you not alone, but you are in great company. Creative types are supposedly more likely to have the condition than average folks. In fact, many believe there is a connection between the disorder and creativity. Here is a list of some notable creative people who have (or may have had) bipolar disorder:

Looks like XNXPs are particularly susceptible to Bipolar disease, many of the people listed here are labeled creative, and just happen to be Ne dominants and auxiliaries. Can anyone support this? If you have bipolar, I doubt that you'd be on the internet... or maybe not... hmmm...

The types for those people don't seem to actually link to NP at all really, it's quite a mixture...

typically in a family the true bipolars have a very tough time, however closley related relatives tend to be much more creative and successful than the avarage person.

Bipolars are all over the freaking net.

The true bipolar has the long term dramatic mood swings. My great grandfather was this way. Every couple of months he would spend two weeks in the local mental hospital.

However much more common are the "hypomanic" bipolars. I am wary of this as a real diagnosis as it is too mixed up with ADHD, borderline personality disorder or any of the other personality/mood disorders. It tends to be a catch all diagnosis.

However many of these folks do see improvement in thier mood stability via mood stablizing meds like the antiepleptics. I am a huge fan of psychopharmacology, even if the underlying disorder is poorly understood.

Just for grins and giggles:
30% of society will have a mental illness at some point.
15% of society will qualify as modereately mentally ill
These are worldwide stats, not just the US.

On other forums, I've seen ENTPs talking about going several nights in a row without sleep because of what they described as "Ne function," psychic intuition, whatever, it's also called "racing thoughts" in the DSM and if you've stayed up 3 nights because of them, I'm gonna go head and say that the last 3 days have seen a remarkably different ENTP marauding around the house. That "Ne function" is hypomania well on its way to blowing up and showing the world a whole new you. Even Jungian literature about the MBTI remarks that ENTPs appear "hypomanic" when highly excited. Some of what I read on those forums could have come from the chapter on mood disorders in an abnormal psych class.

When I took the MBTI test in a psychiatric hospital, the first thing out of my mouth after reading the results was, "what's the rate of bipolar illness for this personality type?" They didn't know. But we know a few things about ENTP: the average IQ is well above expected, the rate of giftedness far exceeds the norm, and that swivel-chair psychologists on the Interwebz have squarely identified ENTP as the "sociopathic" type. I do not know about any unusual numbers of ENTPs receiving diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder, but that's because we're better at our jobs than the shrinks are at theirs. And the rate of manic-depressive illness among true ENTPs would astonish us all. Even the centrality of extraverted intuition reminds me of the manias I've had, the adventures and shenanigans and sin and madness of it; and of course all the poetry I have written while in a swing (I'm at the University of Iowa for poetry, I'm trying not to be a douche about poetry) and it's hard to think about. Manic depression is a gift and a curse. You get superpowers- oh yes, mania makes all the Jungian functions look childish- and you will suffer. Greatly.

But really, I don't accept for a moment the notion that there is a bipolar "disease" and I am not wearing a giant foam mitt advertising the term "disorder" either. "Illness" works because it allows there to be wellness. But I prefer "difference;" we know that manic depression is a genetic phenomenon, and its existence was recorded by the ancient Greeks.

A society needs a slice of manic-depressives or there can be no art and no music and no sunlight because we're probably talking about Alaska. It's a cold world, espeially when youre bipolar, but it's good to remember that it's been passed down to you and it's your gift and your curse.

Bipolar dissorder is a mental health issue resulting in manic phases - where they can quite literally spend a small fortune, I once met a sufferer who bought a firarri on spec because his girl frined of the day liked red.... this can result in bancrupcy etc. Suffer from extreme mania, agitation and true hyperactivity ...c.60 sec attention span, jumping from topic to topic

Then the depressions, they are obviously not a bed of roses either....

It's a serious condition, very non glamerous, causes the relatively and friends to worry, deal with unstability of character.

I doubt they are any more creative as a population than the regular population. They are a relatively small group therfore you cna expect within the bipolar population to be degrees of creativity and non creativity. I can't say that creativity is the first thign that springs to mind about the people I have met/nursed etc with this condition..... out of control would be my first thought...

PS for whats it's worth I'd say xNxP are more likely to suffer from this... although thats gut feel not stats backed up. I say I and E because they can burn out to introversion...esp when depressed